Blog:How can Europe's FMCG industry tough out the downturn?

Executives from General Mills, Tate & Lyle, French retailer Auchan, plus drinks giants Diageo and Heineken, head to Brussels today (17 October) for an industry conference to discuss ways Europe's food and drink sectors can ride out the very challenging economic conditions on the Continent. And just-food will bring you the latest news and views from the event.

The two-day summit, organised by industry association FoodDrinkEurope, is entitled "Feeding the recovery", an optimistic-sounding moniker for a conference held against a gloomy economic backdrop in the region.

Nevertheless, the event promises to discuss how Europe can move to a "sustainable economic recovery", even if some may see that as a faint prospect right now.

Speakers will look at how access to finance can be made easier, with a focus on the needs of the small and medium-sized enterprises in Europe's food and drink sectors.

Regulation will also be a key theme. The EU's new rules on food information will soon be in force, which will have a wide impact, particularly on how food is labelled.

The conference will look at how dietary habits in Europe have changed and how the industry has reacted to this.

As well as representatives from industry, the event will also feature a keynote speech from EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos, a man in one of the more scrutinised post in the region.

just-food will be Tweeting live from the event and you can follow our updates via @just_food and @dean_best.

And keep your eye on our news pages over the next two days for more in-depth coverage.

It's light on specific details but a new "strategic policy roadmap" for 2018 from the US Food and Drug Administration should give manufacturers a sense of where the agency could be looking to act this...